The Jihad Way

Dr. Esam Omeish resigned as a member of the Virginia Commission on
Immigration after his anti-Israel remarks in support of "the jihad way" were
posted on YouTube. He told a news conference that jihad has nothing to do
with violence, but instead is about inner struggles leading to spiritual
triumph. We've heard this before. Such explanations are presented after a
terrorist act or a radical is exposed. Radicals also have been known to lie,
especially to "infidels."

Omeish claims his remarks were "taken out of context." The context appears
clear to anyone familiar with the language of the Middle East. Most rational
people understand "the jihad way," especially when it is associated with
Israel, as meaning the violent overthrow of Israel (and other democracies)
and the destruction of the Jewish people.

Democratic Governor Timothy M. Kaine appointed Dr. Omeish, a frequent critic
of Israel and of U.S. policy in the region, to the Virginia commission that
is examining whether Virginia should do more to restrict illegal
immigration. Gov. Kaine said background checks would be more thorough in the
future.

Examining Dr. Omeish's associations might help put his views "in context."
He is president of the Muslim American Society (MAS), a group with close
ties to the extremist Muslim Brotherhood.

Three years ago, the Chicago Tribune published a lengthy investigative
article on the Muslim Brotherhood. Leaders of the Brotherhood voted to
change the organization's name to MAS and to become more publicly active:
"An undated internal memo instructed MAS leaders on how to deal with
inquiries about the new organization. If asked, ŒAre you the Muslim
Brothers?' leaders should respond that they are an independent group called
the Muslim American Society. And if the topic of terrorism were raised,
leaders were told to say that they were against terrorism but that jihad was
among a Muslim's 'divine legal rights' to be used to defend himself and his
people and to spread Islam."

Definitions are important because the same words and actions can have
shifting meanings and interpretations, depending on the beliefs of the
speaker and hearer. In fact, that is part of the radical's strategy: tell
the West what it wants to hear while plotting to destroy us and impose
Koranic rule on the world.

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) went into predictable rant
mode and denounced critics of Dr. Omeish as "Islamophobes" (can't they come
up with something better than this hackneyed, overused word?). After every
terrorist act, or comment about killing and destroying infidels and their
nations, CAIR and their fellow travelers tell us that what we have seen and
heard is not really what was intended. Sure. Some of their best friends are
infidels.

Former Pakistani President Benazir Bhutto, a moderate Muslim, was in
Washington last week. I asked her how concerned the United States should be,
especially when we see and hear radical talk from people such as Dr. Omeish.
Speaking of the radicals, she told me "They are infiltrating (the United
States and England). What I am hearing is that they now want to buy people
off (and) plant people in intelligence and the military." Bhutto described
the radicalization of Islam, which she said is virtually unchallenged in the
Islamic world: "When I was a young girl, my Islamic teachers said everybody
can have their own religion. Now they say you cannot (even) talk to others
about their religion. You used to be able to marry anyone who is from the
Abrahamic tradition - people of the Book - but (Muslims) are now taught you
can't marry anyone (who doesn't have your) interpretation (of Islam)."

Bhutto says the West is losing the war against the radicals. On Oct. 18, she
plans to return to Pakistan from exile in order to fight them and she wants
to see a debate within Islam and more support for building mosques and
publishing books based on moderate interpretations of Islam to counter the
radicals.

If I were an enemy of America and the West, my strategy would be what Bhutto
says is now happening: infiltrate important structures within which I could
work to damage and destroy the West. Dr. Omeish uses the language and
expresses the intensity of others who wish to overthrow America and Israel.
One could give this movement and their intent a label. Call it "the jihad
way."